'How to be green? Many people have asked us this important question. It's really very simple and requires no expert knowledge or complex skills. Here's the answer. Consume less. Share more. Enjoy life.' Penny Kemp and Derek Wall

2 Sep 2008

Roberto Perez: a one man answer to climate change!

Chair: Joseph Healy, Green Party of England and Wales International SecretarySpeakers:Roberto Perez, Cuban permaculturalist who launches his British tour .Dr Diana Raby, Lecturer at the Institute of Latin American Studies (University of Liverpool)Oscar Berglund Blanco, son of Hugo Blanco editor of Lucha Indigena.Dr Derek Wall, Green Party Principal Speaker

'This meeting will show case the progress being made in Latin America with an emphasis on Cuba and Venezuela in dealing with climate change, biodiversity and range of environmental issues. It will examine the lessons in terms of politics and environmental policy that both the Green Movement and the wider left in Britain can learn from the Latin American experience.'

Organised by Green Left

DEREK WALL on Cuba's move toward a low-carbon economy.

ROBERTO Perez is a very important individual. He holds the key to dealing with global ecological and environmental crisis.

On Thursday September 4, this Cuban green activist will be kicking off a UK tour with a Green Left rally hosted by the Venezuelan embassy.

I would urge all readers to spread the word about his important work.

We are sleeping-walking into utter disaster. Climate change, other forms of ecological devastation, wars for oil, global economic collapse and food shortages mean that, while in years gone by, there may have been four horsemen of the apocalypse, these days there seems to be a whole cavalry. All these problems are intrinsically linked.

Global consumer capitalism based on the US model means that we consume something like 94 million barrels of oil a day. This is wrecking the global economy. Rising oil prices mean inflation and cause economic stagnation.

Britain, as we know, is currently seeing the highest inflation and unemployment figures for over a decade. Oil prices may fall and even fall a lot, but, with declining supply and rising demand for motor vehicles, they are unlikely ever to drop back to 1990 levels.

High oil consumption is literally raising the temperature of the planet. Higher temperatures mean that the arctic ice is melting, allowing more oil to be extracted. This is madness.

Runaway climate change is a real possibility and could lead to flooding, species loss, a highly unstable climate and the loss of millions of lives.

Biofuels are reducing the land available for food production. In turn, high oil prices make it more expensive to produce food because oil-based fertilisers and pesticides are used in intensive agriculture. More and more are going hungry because of oil addiction.

War for oil has already become a reality in Iraq and energy is also one of the factors driving the conflict in Georgia.

The danger is that, with all these problems, atavistic nationalism will grow and fascism will see a resurgence. In Britain, the BNP sees peak oil as a problem that will put Nick Griffin and friends in power.

But there is a solution. It's a socialist solution and its unlikely main exponent in Britain is BBC gardener Monty Don.

One country has already largely overcome the problems of oil dependency and is well on the way to creating the world's first post-petroleum low-carbon economy.

This country is Cuba.

It survived an oil shock in the so-called "special period" in the 1990s, when the collapse of the Soviet Union cut off its access to cheap oil.

Cuba has worked hard to generate energy through renewables. Many schools, particularly in rural areas, get their energy from solar panels. Recently, a wind map was produced for the whole island and wind turbines are springing up.

But perhaps the most important part of Cuba's true green revolution is agricultural.

Cuba introduced permaculture, a special form of organic farming, during the 1990s. Organic is important because, unlike pesticides, it does not require oil products.

Permaculture, which was developed by Australian writer Bill Mollison, uses ecological principles to minimise energy and labour inputs and to maximise output.

It uses tree crops and mulches to avoid the need for labour-intensive digging. Another principle is companion planting, where intercropping of different plants is used to reduce pests and increase fertility.

Composting is vital. Worm bins are used to turn waste into natural fertilisers and mulches.

Anyone who visited Havana in the 1990s would have found the city gripped by a gardening explosion.

Today, roof tops and the smallest scraps of land are used to grow food. It quite literally stopped people from starving and Havana is now virtually self-sufficient in fresh fruit and vegetables.

So, rather than low-carbon solutions leading to a lower standard of living, permaculture has increased prosperity for Cubans.

In Britain, we farm intensively, get our overpackaged food from the supermarkets and see our fruit shipped halfway across the globe. With permaculture, we could grow far more, eating better and cutting energy bills.

'One country has largely overcome the problems of oil dependency and is well on the way to creating the first post-petrol economy.'

Marx famously talked about the metabolism between humanity and the rest of nature and of the importance of maintaining ecological systems. He and Engels promoted garden cities and saw pollution as yet another attack on the working class.

As we know, much of this ecosocialist vision was lost in the 20th century, but Cuba's special period, along with its commitments at the 1992 Rio conference on the global environment, has made it a strong example of sustainable development.

Far from restoring capitalism, which is increasingly seen as ecologically and economically bankrupt, Raul Castro's recent reforms will deepen this ecosocialist vision.

The Cuban president is releasing land across the island for farming based on the concept of "usufruct." Usufruct provides access to property, in this case land, on the condition that it is looked after sustainably.

So, Cubans can farm as long as they do so in ways which are sustainable, but the notion that land can be owned and abused by individuals for short-term gain is rejected.

Cuba's green vision has been taken up in Venezuela and other Latin American economies because ecological economics, particularly in the form of organic agriculture, make sense.

"It's an inspiration, it's beautiful," Don proclaims. He has argued that we need this model in Britain.

"You have to become a rabble. One should scare them and pressure them and subvert the system from the ground up."

Perez, who is perhaps the best known exponent of this Cuban approach to ecology, can be seen on the DVD The Power of Community. He is touring Britain to spread the word.

As well as the Green Left event on September 4, he will be talking at the Convention of the Left in Manchester and in Bristol, Brighton, Sheffield, Derby, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Dundee and Totnes, among other towns.

If we are serious about socialism, ecology and the crisis on this planet, we must spread the word about Cuba.

The September 4 event takes place at Bolivar Hall, 54 Grafton Street, London Full details of Perez's tour can be found at www.permaculture.org.uk

2 comments:

Thanks very much for organising this meeting, and the talk by Perez and the other speakers, it was really fascinating - inspired me with the desire to go to Cuba and see for myself! I look forward to attending his talk in London later this month